


Zuko, Maybe

by tafih



Series: Verbs and Adverbs [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Disaster Sokka (Avatar), Confessions, Field Trip, Gen, High School Hijinks, M/M, Suki is a good friend, Suki is the best wingwoman, bisexual awakening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28622400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tafih/pseuds/tafih
Summary: Sokka decides that the best way to get everyone happy and getting along is to officially induct Zuko into the gang by setting him up with Katara. It’s the perfect plan.(Except when Sokka needs to come to terms with the fact that he has certain feelings for Zuko too).
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Verbs and Adverbs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097321
Comments: 7
Kudos: 61





	Zuko, Maybe

**Author's Note:**

> You potentially need to read the first of this series to understand certain context things...but honestly I do think this can stand on its own. 
> 
> I also have been extremely busy the past fall but all my little fics have been slowly growing throughout the year due to the fact that writing out all these headcanons is one of the only ways in life that I can destress. 
> 
> Enjoy!

So Sokka has a plan and things are going to go extremely well. 

  1. Bring Zuko to lunch with Katara and Aang
  2. Make sure Zuko is not an awkward weirdo 
  3. Make sure Katara and Zuko don’t fight
  4. Make sure Katara and Zuko are best friends
  5. Eat lunch
  6. Buy new planner at stationary store on the way home. DO NOT BUY MORE PENS
  7. _Involve Aang more!_
  8. Stop Aang from stealing your memo pad



But things ended up more like this:

  1. Brought Zuko to lunch with Katara and Aang
  2. Zuko was DEFINITELY an awkward weirdo 
  3. Katara and Zuko fought in a way where they were nice to each other but also SUPER mean at the same time 
  4. Level Unlocked: Katara and Zuko are now MORTAL ENEMIES
  5. Ate lunch
  6. Bought a new planner at the stationary store (and maybe two highlighters but they’re highlighters and do not count as pens: LOOPHOLE)
  7. _I’m borrowing this pen! Your pens are always the best. Thanks, Sokka!_
  8. Fail to stop Aang from stealing your stuff and adding to your notes



Sokka groans as he looks over his notebook, smooshing his hand over the flesh of his face. “Yeah, this is fine.” 

* * *

“Your sister hates me,” Zuko says to him, apropos of nothing as they sit in his bedroom in the small apartment Zuko shares with his uncle, who - coincidentally - is the owner of Sokka’s favorite bubble tea place. 

They’ve established a habit of going to the tea shop or Zuko’s room after school if Aang and Toph are busy. Overall, it seems that Zuko has fully assimilated into their little circle. Aang had welcomed him with a bright smile and Toph had accepted him after an incident that will only be referred to now as “the Burning.” 

“Matching set,” Sokka had overheard Zuko mutter once to himself when they walked through the busy city streets as Aang led Toph ahead of them through the winding rivers of pedestrians. They had all been wearing their school uniforms so yes, Sokka could see that they all sort of looked like a matching set. 

They were a gang, a group, and honestly, Sokka would be lying if he claimed he hadn’t entertained the thought of starting a band. 

They were just missing Katara. 

Which most likely led to Zuko’s seemingly random declaration just now. 

“Whaaaaaaat?” Sokka intones, (and not fooling anyone), looking up from his manga. “Nah, she doesn’t. Katara doesn’t hate anybody.” 

Zuko tosses him a look. ( _Yeah, not fooling anyone._ ) “Well, she hates _me_ ,” he insists, his voice turning gruff. 

Sokka shrugs. 

To give Katara some credit, she tends to be extremely busy anyways. Yet...it was getting pretty obvious that she had been purposefully distant, avoiding hanging out when it would be confirmed that Zuko would be there and having lunch with the girls in her class rather than with them. 

“I’m pretty sure she’s over your whole thing with Aang since he is,” Sokka provides, trying to placate him. 

Doesn’t work. 

Zuko huffs and mutters, “I thought so too. I don’t know why she still hates me.” 

“Does it matter?” Sokka asks blithely as he goes back to his book. “She’ll get over it eventually.” 

Zuko doesn’t respond for a while and Sokka is compelled to look over at him again, caught by the guy’s distinct profile. The sunlight of the dying day spills into room in a way that was fucking cinematic, especially as it waterfalls over him like some divine blessing, highlighting the curves and lines of his features. This is Zuko in contemplation. 

And this is Sokka in rising panic. He coughs himself back to reality and notes how peeved and frustrated Zuko looks. Then a thought dawns. 

“I do care what she thinks of me,” says Zuko finally. 

_Oh_.

“Oh,” Sokka mutters out loud this time. “I see.” Then he didn’t say anything else as the idea began to grow, eventually becoming accepted as part of the greenhouse of his mind. 

_Yeah, this could work._

So Sokka starts making a plan as the idea blossoms into a vine that takes over everything. 

He had never really played matchmaker before, but he is fairly confident he could set his sister up nicely considering that he has much better taste in guys than she does. Zuko is 3 _billion-zillion_ times better than Jet, he thinks and honestly, Sokka foresees a lot of mistakes and heartbreak for his sister if she goes down the route of charming douche-tard in the love-sim game of high school. 

Sokka always had a bad feeling about Jet. 

Actually, scratch that—Sokka has _several_ bad feelings about Jet. 

But, Katara has been spending a lot of time with him, and granted, they are on the Student Council together, since a majority of the school decided to have a collective aneurysm and voted Jet in as student body president. Sokka sneers at the thought. 

Zuko, on the other hand, is not a douche-tard. Yeah, sure, the guy can get moody and whatever but he’s definitely been mellowing out once he took up with them. 

Yeah. He can actually see them playing off each other quite nicely. 

Katara is passionate and stubborn. 

Zuko is smart (in a dumb but endearing way) and good with kids. 

Both have bleeding hearts that get in the way (A LOT—Sokka is NOT a bad person for not giving in to every sob story he comes across). 

Sokka makes his decision then to kill three birds with one metaphorical stone. 

(The stone is a metaphor for matchmaking.) 

So Sokka gets Katara and Zuko together (the stone), Katara gets a cool boyfriend (Bird 1.0), Jet is no longer in the picture (Bird 2.0), and Zuko is fully accepted into the group (Bird 3.0)! 

Sokka smiles to himself with growing pride. He is definitely a genius. 

* * *

“So,” Sokka begins as he looks down at his sister from his spot by her door. “It would mean a lot if you could give Zuko a chance.” 

She glares at him from her desk, her body twisted slightly so that she can gaze at him in full force. 

He waits for her stubbornness to take its usual seven seconds before she sees reason. And she growls, “Ugh, fine.” 

As Sokka heads to his own room, catching the muffled cursing his sister has perfected saying under her breath, he cannot help but smirk. 

Because he knows his sister. 

He knows her like no other and so he knows that she will not do ANYTHING he asks her to do, but it will gnaw at her conscience. This is why he enlisted Aang, to follow up after four days, and who will pointedly but casually bring it up when they have dinner after their Four Nations Amnesty club meeting. 

And, just like that, a week later, Aang sends him a thumbs up and it’s done. 

* * *

The next time they all have lunch, it is still a bit strained and Sokka gets a little worried but then… it works. 

_Course it did,_ Sokka tells himself as he watches Zuko and Katara laugh at something she shows him on her phone.

And Sokka is very proud of Sokka. 

Yeah, Sokka. 

You go, Sokka. 

* * *

It just is not as satisfying as he thought it would be. 

* * *

Then, that feeling just gets worse. 

Because within two weeks, Katara and Zuko are actually spending all their time together. 

Like—ALL of their time together. 

* * *

Sokka approaches Katara at home again sometime the next month, after another afternoon of Sokka acting as a buffer between the mopey Aang and an indignant Toph while Katara and Zuko, _apparently_ , spent another day together who knows the fuck where. 

Sokka whines to her that he had to spend the entire afternoon with Toph and Aang, which was _fine_. (He loves them. They just have the weirdest dynamic when it’s just them that makes Aang not act like Aang while Toph ascends to this strange level of a petty all-powerful god. Long story short: shit happens when it’s just the two of them + Sokka.) 

“How are you guys like _—best_ — friends all of a sudden? I just asked you to give him a chance.” Then he adds, forcibly casual, “Friend-stealer.”

“We went on a life-changing spiritual journey together,” Katara ripostes blandly, without looking up from her homework and unaffected by his flippant insults. “Can’t really _not_ be good friends after that.” 

Sokka blinks for a few seconds. “...really?”

“No, Sokka.” Katara rolls her eyes with the most burdened sigh Sokka has ever heard from her, making him scowl a bit. “We talked things out and he explained his side of the story and it turns out we’re both big _Painted Lady_ fans so we just ended up talking about her music. Today, there was a signing. You know that. I told you.” 

“Oh, right,” Sokka mutters, acting as if he just remembered that she did mention something along the lines of her going to an album signing when he really didn’t remember anything. “Cool. Thanks.”

“Thanks?” 

“Yeah,” Sokka concedes. “For hanging out with him...I...you’ve been getting along and yeah, thanks for that,” he tells her, though it was so strange to say something he genuinely meant but still feeling like nails on a chalkboard. 

“He grows on you,” she gives with a shrug. 

Sokka cocks a brow. 

“Like moss or fungus,” she’s quick to explain. 

“More like he’s a FUN-GUY!” Sokka shoots finger-guns at her. 

She stares at him for a hot summer second then throws a nearby magazine at his face. “How anyone can find you attractive, I’ll never know!” 

_Weird take,_ thinks Sokka. But perhaps this is good. 

But then it gets obnoxious. 

* * *

Now, instead of Aang, Katara is the one to poke her head through the classroom doorway after the last bell and beckon Zuko away to some unknown adventure that Sokka is only privy to in vicarious doses or after the fact. 

The fifth time this happened, a classmate approached an increasingly grumpy Sokka and asked, “Dude, is your sister banging the school’s resident eldritch horror?” 

To which, Sokka could only snap, “Shut up, Cheng.” 

And as he stalked off to go vent out his frustration somewhere, he realized that he planned for this. He had wanted this. 

He had set out to prove his theory and came upon a complicated yield. 

So...maybe, he may not be the genius he thought he was.

* * *

“Cool. This is fine. Yeah, it’s totally fine that Katara **_stole_ **my friend,” Sokka grumbles into the large straw sticking out of his Earl Grey boba. 

“Sure,” Suki scoffs as she stabs her straw on top of her mango jelly chunks in her Passion Fruit Power Punch. “Which is why you’re hanging out with me and — of all things — _complaining_ instead of actually telling your sister or Zuko about how you feel left out.” 

Now, he scoffs. “I don’t feel left out.” 

She levels a particular stare at him that he already predicted would come. “Fine,” she concedes after it becomes obvious that Sokka will refuse to indulge her logic and reasonableness. 

Suki, surprisingly, has been a safe haven for him throughout this whole weirdness because Toph — well — would be Toph about all of it and Aang has been taking it particularly hard too, for some reason. 

Suki, on the other hand, can handle his brand of crazy with aplomb and all-knowing smirks. 

Sokka just doesn’t want to deal with all this weird gooey emotional stuff. He just wants to complain about it. 

Sokka is smart, he knows he is, but he also knows he’s dumb — well, perhaps not _dumb_. Aang has been getting on his case about using self-deprecating language so Sokka qualifies that thought. 

Sokka knows he can fail to be astute when it comes to matters of the heart, which is why he relies on Katara for that sort of stuff...but all this confusing gushy stuff concerns her too. 

So — he goes to Suki. 

Because, she’s actually pretty great at giving advice. She’s studying to be a life coach and it’s pretty much the perfect job for her, Sokka thinks, especially when she says things like: 

“Sokka, have you ever considered that maybe being jealous is _fine_?” she ends up saying, taking his plight a little more seriously. “I’m sure you can just tell him. He’s your friend. He’ll appreciate honesty.” 

“I—” Sokka is about to blurt out that he can’t. Then he pauses. 

_Why can’t he?_

_Why can’t he just tell Zuko,_ “Hey, man, it’s kinda bumming me out that we’re not hanging out together anymore and you’re practically following my sister around like a love-sick turtleduck.” 

“It’s complicated,” he finally relents. 

She pushes in, leaning over their small circular bright blue table in the middle of the bustling Chinatown food court. “Why is it complicated?” 

He leans back. “Because it is.” He frowns. 

“Why, Sokka? If it’s complicated then talk through it? If you’re upset that he isn’t spending more time with you then tell him and problem solved, right?” 

Sokka jerked back and a shiver ran up his spine. “Are you with Laogai? Dude, back up.” (But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't the tiniest bit turned on. Yeah, he's gross, he knows). 

She ignores him. “Why don’t you want to tell him, Sokka?” 

Something bubbled in him and then popped. “It’s needy!” he finally exclaims and several people stopped to send confused and judgemental gazes at him. “And weird,” he tacks on. 

Suki settles back in her seat, very much in disbelief. “Sokka...come on.” 

“Look, I just...guys don’t talk about this kind of stuff.” 

She scoffed. “Sure, keep saying more needlessly gendered aphorisms. That’ll help your problem.”

“Tui and La, you sound like my sister,” Sokka groaned, slouching further into his seat. 

“Probably a good thing,” she sneered before taking a sip. 

“Why are we friends?” Sokka questions loudly, suddenly regretting coming to her in the first place. 

Suki smiles brightly. “Because you felt guilty about wanting to keep your new boyfriend all to yourself when he is finally getting along with your sister like you wanted.” 

The sudden and absolute embarrassment and chagrin that rose in him spluttered out in a series of high-pitched half-words and phrases. He could feel heat crawling all over his body and a strange feeling chilling his insides as he kept stuttering, until finally, he announces, “He is not my boyfriend!” 

Suki only smiles again and says, “Sure, Sokka.” 

More sounds came from his throat until he finally tires himself and he finally relinquishes a soft, “I just miss him.” 

“So tell him,” is the simple yet not-really-that-simple response. 

“I want to,” he ends up saying, but knows that he actually doesn’t. 

He can’t. 

He doesn’t know why. 

But he just can’t. 

“Great. Cuz here’s your chance,” Suki says, smirking and pointing behind him. Sokka — ever the subtle artist — swerves around to see Katara and Zuko approaching them, cups of boba tea in hand. 

He can only blink as they step up to them. Closer and closer, Katara looks like a mother who saw a bunch of delinquents at a family gathering and is about to reproach them. Zuko, though, looks as though he had just seen a really bad action film that did not meet the hype set by a well-edited trailer — some combination of disappointment and discomfort that Sokka cannot quite pin down. 

“Hey, Sokka,” Katara greets him then she waves at his table buddy, “Hi, Suki. It’s nice to see you again.” 

“Likewise,” Suki returns with a smile. But there is something mischievous lining her tone, Sokka can tell. 

He can’t see her. But he can tell. 

Katara and Suki exchange genuinely pleasant pleasantries while Zuko stares at everything else except at Sokka. 

Which is, you know, so lovely. 

“Wait—” Zuko interrupts, he is glaring at Suki but not in the _‘I’m going to murder you because I’m embarrassed’_ glare that Sokka usually sees on Zuko’s face but his _‘I don’t know what’s going on and my facial expressions have been trained to only express anger and frustration’._ “Do I know you?” he finally asks. 

Suki raises her hand and gives a short wave and a nod. “Yeah, we went to Ran Gi together — you — uh, kinda burned down my science fair project.” 

Sokka rounds his gaze at Suki while Katara glares at Zuko. 

Zuko, meanwhile, pales and mutters his apologies. 

“It’s fine,” Suki provides, waving off his concern. “Well, it wasn't, but thankfully it was already graded by the time you came by with the candles.” 

Now, Zuko blushes and Sokka doesn’t realize he is staring at Zuko blushing, captured by the soft pink of his cheeks, until he catches a glimpse of Suki smiling at him like a villain. 

“Small world,” Katara quips dryly. “But, honestly, knowing Sokka, it isn’t that surprising.” 

Sokka directs his attention to his sister. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“It means that you’re weirdly sociable,” his sister responds with an even and almost and potentially murderous tone. 

_Weird_. Why would his sister murder him for being sociable? Especially considering the vast number of other things he's done to her that do warrant his horrible grotesque murder by her hands. 

“Date?” Zuko suddenly asks, looking like someone strained him through a cheese grater. 

Sokka secretly and quickly delights in Zuko's particular brand of awkwardness, but. that. delight is quickly cut short. 

Suki bursts out in laughter and keeps going until Sokka's self-esteem is rock bottom and she stops herself, stares at Zuko with a deadpan gaze and says, “Please, I have standards.” 

Sokka releases a very offended sound of great offense. “ _Dude_.” 

Suki just smirks at him and says, “Kidding. You’re lovely.” Then back to Zuko. “But seriously, like, I’m bi but we’re just friends.” Then, to Katara, “You seeing anyone, Katara?”

Katara blushes when Sokka swoops in with a shrieking, “Please don’t hit on my sister right in front of me.” 

She just sticks her tongue out at Sokka, gives Katara a wink, and segues, “So what brought you guys out here?” 

“Just hanging out,” Katara says with a shrug while Zuko looks askance and blushes which immediately make Sokka’s internal organs crumple into a lump of coal. 

Fuck. 

He really was jealous. 

“You guys?” Katara asks. 

“Sokka has been weighed down by some woes,” Suki explains and before Sokka has time to be disdainful at the sudden breach of trust, Zuko chuckles. 

That soft, sweet, unattainable little laugh that eludes Sokka unless he comes up with something fantastically funny and presents it to Zuko like a kindergartener showing off a scribble to their teacher for some penumbral approval. 

“Sokka always has woes,” Zuko quips. (HE ACTUALLY QUIPS.)

Katara laughs prettily and Suki is just beaming like she won something. Sokka is just...some sensation he has never felt before. 

“Excuse me, sir,” he retorts, regaining himself. “I do not _always_ have woes.” 

Zuko turns to Suki and commiserates, “My room’s turned into a confessional.” 

“Yeah, I get that.” 

“Sokka _is_ the complainer,” Katara adds. 

“EXCUSE ME. I AM NOT.” 

“Sokka, you’re whinging right now.” 

“Okay, first of all, _Lord Zuko_ ,” Sokka rounds on Zuko, who has no business looking as prettily pleased as he is currently looking, “No one uses ‘whinging’ this side of the continent. If you’re going to slum it with the peasants, you gotta use our vernacular. SECOND OF ALL, I am the **_meat and sarcasm_ ** guy,” he insists, this time looking to the girls. “Witty, charming, great with a grill— _that’s_ me.” 

The three others in their small little party impossibly share a glance between the three of them. 

“Sure, Sokka,” they respond simultaneously. 

Sokka rolls his eyes and proceeds to finish his drink, making loud and disgruntled sips. 

“Well, it was good to see you. But we better get going,” Katara chuckles, gently touching Zuko’s arm and killing some indiscriminate percentage of Sokka’s soul. “See you at home, Sokka?” 

“Yep,” is his automatic and icy reply. 

Katara waves goodbye to Suki while Zuko provides his exceedingly polite farewells and they disappear into the throng of the Saturday crowd. 

“He’s still really hot,” Suki comments as they watch them leave. 

“Yeah,” Sokka sighs, knowing that he has lost. 

“Mmhmm,” Suki merely hums the next question and takes a long loud sip of her boba. 

“Yeah,” Sokka sighs, his shoulders fall. “Yeah.” 

“Sooooooo?” Suki sings as Sokka buries his face into the blanket of his hands. 

“Yeah, okay,” he mutters. 

“What was that?” she asks, utterly cheeky. 

“I’ll tell him!” Sokka finally gives in, bolts upright (startling several nearby customers), stalks over to the garbage can, chucks his empty gup into the correct recycling bin, and trudges past his overly smug friend, saying a quick “bye” and “thanks.”

Before turning to leave, Sokka is stopped by a genuinely kind smile on Suki’s face. 

His shoulders, which had been tense and nearly up to his ears, relax. 

“You’ll figure it out, Sokka,” she says, incredibly sincere. “You’re the smartest guy I know. Wouldn’t be surprised if you were the bravest either.” 

And with that, she, too, gets up to leave, vacating the space with grace and flourish but her words remain. 

Leaving Sokka to linger in the precursors of a revelation. 

* * *

The bus ride home is long and treacherous as it lurches to and fro; it’s honestly a great metaphor for the state of his heart and mind, Sokka believes. 

His hands remain over his face for a considerable amount of time as he meditates about all of this awful, horrible, icky, gushy nonsense. 

Except that it wasn’t nonsense at all. 

The closer he got to his stop, the clearer this emotion became in the eyes of his understanding. 

By the time Sokka makes it home, he knows — potentially, probably, possibly — that he is in love with Zuko. He collapses onto his bed and sighs into his comforter. 

“Well, fuck.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for all the love for the first one!   
> There will be a second chapter. 
> 
> It will not come out soon. 
> 
> I am sorry.  
> Wish me luck!


End file.
